The Velveteen Rabbit

The Velveteen Rabbit

It's all hand quilted and finished now. 

I have to admit I don't square up my quilts and only measure them when I post a finish.  Normally top and bottom are the same measurement and sides are the same measurement.   Not this time! Can you tell?  The quilt is 43 x 58 x 44 x 60. 

Sally who blogs at The Objects of Design shared a tutorial for making the standing bunnies.   I started making them on my Janome and finished making them on a new Brother. Unfortunately when I bought the Brother I did not have the needle set correctly for a quarter inch seam so the Brother Bunnies turned out slightly larger.  So, I made the Rabbits hop up and down in the quilt.     I used a variety of neutral background fabrics (mainly because I didn't think I had enough of any particular one) and like how sometimes a butterfly just happened to turn up on a Bunny belly or a Rabbit ear.  

The rabbits were made of bits and pieces of mostly brown fabrics (scrap chunks). 

I hand quilted with regular brown quilting thread on the rabbits and with perle #12 ecru in the sashing areas. 

I actually included a Velveteen Rabbit at the end.  It's velveteen from an old skirt of mine. I made the skirt and wore it and wore it until it no longer fit.  I love velveteen so saved it to remake into something else someday - after all...velveteen was not cheap when I was skinny and made that skirt. 

The backing is fabric with rabbits.   And I free pieced the words "Get Real" to add to the back. 

"It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.” 
― Margery Williams Bianco, The Velveteen Rabbit

I had enough Velveteen to make a matching stuffed rabbit.  

The tutorial was generously shared at Purl Soho. 

The quilt and stuffed rabbit are going into the hope chest for the first great grandchild.  I was going to add my copy of The Velveteen Rabbit but can't find it. I think I gave it to my first grandchild, Isabelle, when she was born.  I'll have to buy another copy. 

And it will probably be awhile before the quilt, rabbit and book make it out of the hope chest. My oldest grandkids are 12.   I like to plan ahead.  I like to be prepared. 

This was my goal #16   for   Q2 2017 Finish-A-Long

It was my May OMG (One Monthly Goal) at Elm Street Quilts. (#43)

Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts

Oh Scrap! at Quilting is More Fun than Housework

In the Hoop: The Velveteen Rabbit

The Velveteen Rabbit baby quilt is in the hoop. 

(FYI - There really is one Velveteen Rabbit in the quilt). 

Sally, of The Objects of Design, calls these Standing Bunnies and has a tutorial for them if you are interested. 

I've already used the Standing Bunny tutorial and now I just want to get this hand quilted and in the hope chest and crossed off the UFO list. (You know how rabbits multiply and I don't need any more UFOs at the moment). 

 My OMG (One Monthly Goal) for May is to completely finish The Velveteen Rabbit.

OMG at Elm Street Quilts

Get Real

This Velveteen Rabbit was once part of a homemade Velveteen Skirt of mine. 

If you want one of your own Sally who blogs at The Objects of Design has a wonderful tutorial. 

And this Velveteen Rabbit also came from my Velveteen Skirt. 

If you want to make one of your own I found a tutorial at Purl Soho. 

You may or may not have seen all of the bunnies I previously made but here's some of them.  I now have them all together in a quilt top.  That is the part of this process that went improv. 

I knew I wanted the Velveteen Rabbit to be the last rabbit in the quilt (which was supposed to be baby quilt sized but more on that later).  I knew I wanted to use up the neutral 2.5 and 1.5 sized pieces I had leftover from making bunnies.  I knew I wanted bunnies to be staggered, not all in a row. I knew I wanted bunnies randomly facing different directions. And, I don't normally lay all blocks out on a floor and I don't have a design wall (that's an old cutting mat covered with a piece of batting I prop up to take pics) so I kind of put things together as I go and don't look back.  I know myself well enough to know if I had a design wall or I lay things out I move things around waaaaaay too much, am never happy and then never get anything done.  So....

I just took six bunnies and started putting them together for the third row as you see above. Yes, I started with the third row.  I figured if in some fashion I added two 1.5 strips and one 2.5 strip to the top and bottom of each rabbit in a random fashion and then added a 2.5 or 1.5 between rabbits I would end up with somewhat even rows. I did not measure strip before I sewed them to the rabbit blocks  - I just sewed and cut. 

Then I made the fourth row in the same fashion with Velveteen Rabbit the last block. 

And then, as the story unfolds...you can see row three and four sewn together.  And, if I had laid blocks out on the floor ahead of time or put them on a design wall those two teal bunnies would not be one on top of the other.  But they are. And that's fine. (Type A side of me - don't look. Cover your eyes with the improv hat). 

And then row two hooked up with rows three and four.  

And before you knew it...there were four rows. 

And remember...I didn't square anything up as I went...I just sewed and cut and sewed and cut and sewed. And, guess what...when I got to the very last row - the top row - I noticed that one side of the row was quite a big longer than the other side. Hmmmm....well, I hadn't noticed that the bunnies I sewed after I got my new sewing machine (gifted to me by myself for my very recent birthday) and didn't move the needle over quite right for 1/4 inch seam were a little bigger than the oldest bunnies I sewed on my old sewing machine that had a perfect 1/4 inch seam.  So, I kind of lined up both ends and folded in half and just kind of cut the bottom of the row so sides were even.  See that spot at the top where I whacked that is just shouting "look at me"?  (Type A part of me...don't look). 

And then guess what...there was about a 1 5/8 inch difference between one side of the quilt and the other side.   The darned quilt was way out of alignment because I hadn't measured and squared and measured and squared as I went and I had some big bunnies and some smaller ones  - blocks I hadn't squared up and I used scissors to cut strips off  instead of cutting precise pieces to sew to top and bottom and in between blocks.  So, I measured and calculated and cut precise 2.5 inch scrappy pieces and added them to the bottom and top and sides of the entire quilt.  And it was even all around.  And it became bigger than it started out to be (about 42 x 60) but it is still baby quilt sized if you ask me. 

And as the Skin Horse said to the Velveteen Rabbit:

"But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”

 ― Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

And then I  put on my Improv hat and made some letters and then there were the words "GET REAL" ready to go with the fabric I'll use for the backing. (Disregard that stray thread or is it a stray hare? )

"Weeks passed, and the little Rabbit grew very old and shabby, but the Boy loved him just as much. He loved him so hard that he loved all his whiskers off, and the pink lining to his ears turned grey, and his brown spots faded. He even began to lose his shape, and he scarcely looked like a rabbit any more, except to the Boy. To him he was always beautiful, and that was all that the little Rabbit cared about. He didn't mind how he looked to other people, because the nursery magic had made him Real, and when you are Real shabbiness doesn't matter.” 

― Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

And that's the rest of the story about how an old homemade Velveteen skirt became Velveteen Rabbits and quilt top ready for some hand quilting love (after I piece together some batting and finish a few other hand quilting projects.)

When all is said and done this will be a quilt and toy for the hope chest for a future (very far into the future) great grandchild I may or may not get to know.  Oh, and I hope to find the Velveteen Rabbit book around here to put with it too. If not I guess I'll have to buy one. 

This is how I improv (improvise). 

What about you? 

Check out AdHoc Improv quilters linking up at Kaja and Ann's blogs. 

Also linking up to:

Can I Get a Whoop, Whoop! at Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Finish it Up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts

Bunny Breeding 101

 

And now there are 27.

It's easy to breed rabbits if you follow Sally's tutorials at her blog The Objects of Design. 

Still no Velveteen Rabbit in the mix. Maybe there will be an appearance soon.

 I took off work the next few days to help husband with some outside chores (cutting down some dead trees for firewood, cleaning up gardens, taking down snow fences, clearing area for new chicken coops, etc [oh, my aching back, I'm getting too old for this]) but hope to sneak in a little sewing too.  So, there may be a Velveteen Rabbit before Easter.  Still haven't found the darned book, though. I'm thinking I gave it to my daughter (or she gave it to herself). 

Bunny Hop

Sally who blogs at The Objects of Design posted a tutorial in July 2015 for left facing bunnies.  I made 5.  I was thinking I would make a baby quilt for the hope chest for a future great grandchild to go with the book Velveteen Rabbit, one of my favorite children's books.  The plan is also for one of the rabbits to be made from an old velveteen skirt I made for myself and wore for years and years until it shrunk (i.e. until I got old, i.e. until I put on a few pounds). 

Then, being reverse-a-pattern-challenged, I asked Sally if she would make a tutorial for a right facing bunny. And, being the wonderful person she is, Sally obliged and made a right facing bunny tutorial in Aug 2015.    But I never got around to using the tutorial until last weekend.  Now I have 5 right facing bunnies to go with the lefties.  I wasn't thinking when I made that wild rabbit in the middle. I thought the rabbit was going to be the darker brown and the arm and ears would be the wild fabric. 

So now there are 10 rabbits. I haven't figured out yet how many rabbits it takes to make a baby quilt but before I forget how to make both right and left bunnies and which fabric goes where I think I will try to get a lot more made this weekend.   When I made the left facing bunnies I added a 2.5 sashing piece in front of it. I'm not sure that will stay. 

I'm waiting to see what layout Sally uses for her plaid bunnies. 

In case you were wondering about that shrunken velveteen skirt that inspired the color scheme and will soon turn into a rabbit on the quilt as well as a stuffed rabbit (hopefully) here it is.  I can't seem to find the old Velveteen Rabbit book that will go into the hope chest with the whole mess. 

Get Real

Rabbits

"Generally by the time you are Real most of your hair has been loved off and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby."  - Margery Williams, Velveteen Rabbit. 

I've been wanting to make a baby quilt to go into the future generations hope chest with the book Velveteen Rabbit which is one of my favorites. 

I'm not very good at making up patterns so I hinted to Sally (The Objects of Design) that I would like to know how to make an upright bunny and she graciously made a tutorial. 

And so...I've made 5 Rabbits on their way to getting Real.   I didn't see the problem with the top right one until I took the photo. I guess he came down with a bout of Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and his eye is about ready to drop out.  He must be on his way to Real. Do I fix it? Or leave it? 

One of the rabbits in the quilt will actually be made of this velveteen.  This is an old velveteen skirt of mine I made way back when I made all of my clothes. It's one of those things I've saved because the fabric was expensive and I was poor back then but splurged on the fabric with some birthday money. It hasn't fit for quite some time (because I'm loose in the joints and very shabby) but I've saved it for a Velveteen Rabbit.    The colors of the other rabbits in the quilt are inspired by the colors in this skirt.  I'm going to cut it up for one Velveteen Rabbit for the baby quilt and with the rest I think I will make a little stuffed rabbit.